


Twisted Lives

by Rivenlore



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Backstory, Betrayal, Boarding School, Buses, Childhood Memories, Clue somewhat, Clues, Developing Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fighting, Fun Stuff!, Gen, Good Friends, Humans, Legally Dead, Major character death - Freeform, Market Place, Neglect, Open Relationships, Original Character(s), Other, Repressed Memories, School Life, Toxic Relationships, a bunch of tags to give the story description, ace - Freeform, boys, cool powers, detective kinda, dying, girls, idealistic society, judgmental characters, lots of tension and high stakes, scavenger hunt, schooltrip, torture doesn't work, villain/anti hero
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29049840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivenlore/pseuds/Rivenlore
Summary: In the world she lives in, there are powers such as mindreading, and the power to make fire, to name some. These people are blessed with marks on their skin that show just how different and special they are. In some lands, these Marked are rare. But where Vivian lives, they're the only ones around.And so people like Vivian are outcasts among the miracles. She has no special power, and has never had one. She is a shame to everyone who knows her, and so her family sends her off to a remote school. Everyone at this school is just as outcast as she is, and everyone carries secrets.Can Vivian make friends, and somehow avoid the secrets and lies that run rampant through the school?





	1. Dysfunctional Belief

_What constitutes abandonment? Is it when someone leaves you at the doorstep of an unknown building? What if they want o keep you? Would that be considered abandonment?_

These were all questions in Vivian's head as she stared out the car window. So far, neither her nor her brother had much to say, so the drive had been mostly silent. They were both relatively quiet people anyways.

Trees were rushing by. A lot of trees were rushing by, painting the individual trees. She half wished she could see the forest, not just the trees. Because it was all blurry forms rushing by. With each blurry green and brown smear went her memories. The last several years. As miserable as it had all been, at least she hadn't been-here.

"Hey, what're you thinking about?"

She turned her head to look at her brother in the driver's seat. He glanced at her, concern in his dark eyes, like usual. He was always worrying about her, today most of all. Less then a year ago he'd gotten his driver's license, specifically so he could drive her without their parents watching every single move they made. More like every move she made.

"Not much," she said absently, not wanting to worry him even more. 

He nodded, and the corner of his mouth lifted as his eyes darted to hers.

"I know you're thinking about this school. I am too." He hesitated, then continued. "We've heard good things about it, honestly-"

"No one's really heard about a school for disabled kids like me," she found herself saying quietly. As she spoke, Vivian couldn't help her eyes from shifting to the glowing teal marks on her brother's arms. Well, they were spread over every inch of his skin; ever shifting patches of energy that marked him as a true Uqoälowa. Unlike her, and her too plain, unmarked pale skin.

"You aren't-disabled," he said slowly, as if trying to argue. His marks seemed to glow slightly brighter, lighting the reluctance in his eyes as he glanced at her again. "At least you're not physically handicapped, or mentally-"

"I haven't heard of a remote school set up for unnatural people like me to go and die at," she muttered, looking away. Staring too long at the glowing marks (his were larger, more like splashes of paint across his pale skin) made her almost sick, reminding Vivian again and again that she wasn't normal. She wasn't plain and average, she was different from everyone else. 

"You aren't going to _die_ Vivian. It'll only be two years, and then when you turn twenty you'll be free. I'll come and get you."

"But that's two whole years," she pointed out, frustrated. She was going to be at this school for stupid freaks like her for two whole years. It was going to be a nightmare.

"And I'm two years older then you," he said. "Look, it doesn't matter, alright? This place will be fine. There'll be tons of kids your age. Maybe you'll even find friends."

But Vivian tuned him out. Her brother could go on and on about the people she'd meet there. Friends she might make. But he didn't know what it was like to live as an outcast, shunned just because she didn't have marks. Every day, she couldn't leave their large house and associate with anyone whenever school was over. School was the only time she could leave, and then no one talked to her; except her brother, of course. He was the only one whoo ever felt comfortable talking to her.

She glared down at her plain, pale arm, willing the colorful patches to appear. Maybe pink, sailing like the cosmos. Or maybe pale blue like the ocean to match her brother's teal. But of course, no matter how hard she stared, nothing happened. Her arm stayed the exact same.

Just like what her parents said, she was just a waste, wasn't she? They'd been very patient, waiting until her 18th birthday to see if she'd manifest her marks and her power. Most Uqoälowa manifested at 13 or 14, but a very few bloomed around 17 or 18. Vivian hadn't. She didn't have any powers, or anything to benefit her powerful family. They'd expected great things from her. After all, her brother had very strong powers. Why couldn't she?

She was a shame to her family. Shamed by everyone. Thrown out fo society to this "school" where her only company would be people like her.

Every thought in Vivian's head seemed to vanish as they slowly pulled up at the doors. 

The building she was in front of looked out Victorian, kinda rustic. It looked creepy, with medium large doors in the center of the building. There was a large circular driveway made of gravel her brother had driven up on. Vivian reluctantly got out and stared up, and her brother joined her after he got her suitcase out of the car.

"Wow," he said thoughtfully, glancing from left to right along the windows and other buildings behind the main one. "This looks horrible...but kind of cool."

Her brother always thought creepy things were cool. It was a weird. 

"Yeah," she said, sighing more in resignation than anything else. He gave her a smile, and then pulled her into a hug.

"I'll come check up on you after this school year ends," he said, reassuring her. Vivian smiled. One bright spot.

"Okay." 

She wished he could stay forever, and maybe join her at this creepy school. But he was an Uqoälowa, and she wasn't. 

"Love you, don't die," he said when he finally let go. Vivian nodded, and then he got back into the car. 

And then her brother left, leaving Vivian standing in front of this building, all alone.

 _What a great way to begin,_ she thought, turning towards the front door.


	2. Strange Corridors

Vivian didn't understand the place. She didn't understand what was going on. The door was closed; locked. 

"Great," she muttered, shaking her head. "So I'm arriving here and I'm going to-what? Die out here?"

Then the door opened and a girl was standing on the other side of the door, looking at her. She had gleaming dark eyes and semi curly hair that appeared unnaturally white in the almost darkness. She had a sharp face, dark in the shadows and she looked sinister. Vivian stared at her.

"Who are you?" she asked, and the girl blinked at her silently, not answering. Creepy.

"You're...Vivian, right?" she asked, and then her face broke into a small grin. Her lips parted and turned up at the edges, so Vivian assumed it was a smile. Still, the look was too shadowed and her eyes were too dark, shining at Vivian with bad intentions.

"How do you know my name?" Vivian asked, glaring at the girl.

"Uh-you're new here," the girl answered. "Come in-and don't worry, I'm not going to kill you," she said, stepping away from the door. "Come on."

Vivian took a breath and slowly turned around. Her last look at the world before she stepped inside this creepy old mansion like place and hopefully didn't get murdered. The view was of trees; the forest overlooking a small valley below them. It was pretty, and secluded, jus the perfect place for her to be killed. It was like the beginning of any murder mystery.

When she stepped in, everything was dark. Bleak light shone through high arching windows, showing wood walls. At last Vivian thought they were wood. It was all very pale and bleak.

"Where are the lights?" she asked, jumping as the door slammed shut. And now they were alone.

"And this is when I murder you," the girl said completely deadpan, and then she cracked another smile as she walked past. "I don't know where the electricity is, but we won't be alone for long. Just a few more days."

"I'm sorry, we're going to be stuck here for a few more days?" Vivian asked, her voice rocketing up several octaves in her panic. She did not want to be stuck with this weirdo for more then a few hours. and now she would be here alone? With this girl. In a huge, shadowy, scary building. This was definitely setting up to be a horror book.

"Yeah," the girl threw over her shoulder. And then she pivoted, throwing another look at Vivian. "I know what you're thinking."

She sounded so serious that Vivian blinked, wondering what this girl was going on about.

"Uh...okay? What am I thinking?" she asked.

"You think I'm some weird girl who might or might not be an axe murderer."

"Well, maybe not an axe murderer," Vivian muttered, and the girl laughed. Not unpleasantly, which made Vivian feel a little better.

"I'm neither though, so no need to worry about me killing you," the girl said cheerfully. "I'm Tallulah by the way, just think you should know my name. Y'know, since I'll be your tour guide."

What. Vivian and to process those words for a few seconds. "I'm neither..." 

"What?" she asked. 

"And I'm not some creepy boy whose going to chop you into little bits and eat you for dinner," Tallulah added. 

"What's with your morbid fascination?" Vivian asked. Tallulah laughed and started walking.

"It's not really morbid, the longer you stay here the more you'll realize that. How old are you?"

"Uh-eighteen. Why?"

"Oh."

Tallualh's shoulders slumped, and she-they sighed.

"What?"

"Nothing, just not likely we'll see each other once school starts."

Well if that was what that meant Vivian was going to be very happy. She had had enough of this weird girl for one day. And the face she-they-whatever was going to be giving her a tour of the place...it made Vivian very uncomfortable.

"Well, that's-"

"Too be fair, I'm one of the more pleasant ones," Tallulah said. Vivian snorted, and the girl-boy-human turned back with a slightly wounded expression.

"You're more pleasant?" Vivian scoffed. Tallulah raised their eyebrows slightly, as if they found that comment startling.

"Yeah," she said lightly, then continued walking without explaining further.

"So...while you give me a tour of the place, would you tell me what I might have to do here to survive?" Vivian asked, trying to keep up. She may have been a head taller then Tallulah, but they-she-they walked pretty fast. "Hey, slow down!"

"No time for the slow," Tallulah called as they dashed up a set of stairs. "come on, this is just eh entrance hall, the first cafeteria and boring classrooms not eh first level. Nothing interesting ehre. The second wings are where its interesting."

"Wait, you have multiple cafeterias?" Vivian demanded as she cleared the stairs and stood at eh top. This level looked the same. Much more sunlight came in thought eh windows however, and she peered out into the courtyard below. There were a lot of rees, almost tiles a mini forest.

"Three," Tallulah said, smiling at Vivian's look of surprise. "Oh, come on. This is a school for freaks, you really think they'd let us starve?"

By the dry tone they used, Vivian wasn't sure if they were joking or not. She decided they weren't.

"So..." Vivian started as they walked down the hall. "How are classes scheduled?"

"Oh, yeah. We get up at nine, then we have a class, a break, and then class, then lunch, then class, then class, then "free time" and then bedtime."

"wow." The way they talked about classes it seemed very...uninteresting. "Is that it?"

"Is that it?" Tallualh asked, smiling as they turned around and laughed at Vivians's question. and then they sighed. "there's not much else we can do here."

"So, wait, if school starts soon, were is everyone else?" 

"Ah, the smart question!" Talulah shouted almost gleefully. Vivian cringed back, confused as they spun around the hallway, arms out. It looked like Tallulah was utterly crazy. Maybe they were insane. 

"Are you...okay?" she asked, and Tallulah stopped spinning. They looked back at her, and the smile faded off their face.

"Sorry if I'm freaking you out, I just thought I'd have to be here, in this empty building, until the end of time with no one but myself to keep me company. I'm just relieved is all."

"Uh-okay?"

Tallulah alughed a little and shook their head.

"You're funny, vivian."

"What do you mean?"

"Whats with all your questions? You seem so unsure about yourself," Tallulah said.

 _And you seem very sure about yourself,_ Vivian thought as she followed Tallulah along the hallway. The two of them emerged into a wide open room, with higher levels and tables everywhere. Along a back wall appeared to be a line to wait for food, and there was a whole area to serve food. 

"So this is the cafeteria?" Vivian asked, looking around. It seemed very big.

"One of them, yeah," Tallulah said. They sighed, and shook their head. "I'd forgotten what this looked like..."

"Don't you spend time here during lunch?" Vivian asked, surprised. Tallulah shook their head.

"No. I usually-well, I usually don't eat in this room."

After that they showed her the wings, how the school had four levels including a roof, and two wings branching out from the center one which Vivian had entered. There were gabled roofs for most of it, but some parts of the roof were flat, and Tallulah showed her how to climb out onto these sections.

"Although only the antisocial kids come out onto the roof. It makes a statement to hang out so high up," the said.

"Anti-social?" Vivian echoed.

"Yeah," Tallulah flashed a smile at her. "You thought everyone here was going to be a loud extravert? That would get so tiring...and boring, too."

what, they aren't an extravert? Vivian wondered, shaking her head. "You don't like people who talk a lot?" she asked. Tallulahs hok their head.

"No, I find them to be quite abrasive and annoying. I mean, not that I have anything against them, its just my personal experience-anywasy, here we are!"

"Where?"

Vivian looked around. she hadn't noticed that as they walked there were doors on either side fo the hallway, much like a hotel or the college dorms the Marked kids went to (Vivian had seen them a few times on her tour, but then people had wanted to know what her power was and her family thought it best she left). Tallulah had stopped at a door next to a window, gesturing to it.

"This is a guest room, so I can give you a tour of the place," Tallulah said, smiling. They pushed open the door and walked in. 

"A guest room?" Vivian echoed. "Do you get many guests here?"

"No, not really," they said. Then shrugged, as if they were just as confused as her about the room. "Come in, I won't bite." Vivian wouldn't put it past them to actually try and bite her, but they kept closer to the window when she walked in. It looked like a hotel room, somewhat. To the right there was closet space and shelves, and to the left there was a bedroom, and then straight through appeared to be a sitting room. There was a couch, and several chairs and it looks nice. 

Vivian walked over to the bedroom and peered in. Two beds, stripped of sheets and on opposite sides of the room. The floor was bare between them, but at the foot of each was a trunk, most likely for storing things. And then on the far wall was a window that spread light into he room. So one roommate got the bed with the light and the other didn't. Looked fun. There was a door to the bedroom, and patio steps down to the sitting room. They were about three steps, low enough that she almost tripped over them.

"Huh. This is much cleaner than it would be if someone was actually living in here," Tallulah mused. They shrugged, then stepped down to join Vivian looking out the window. The whole building was on a slight cliff, overlooking woods . They were deep int eh woods, away from much of civilization. Isolated so people could forget they even existed. The thought made Vivian cringe away; she didn't want to think about that. Still, it was in the mountains, so they had some variation int he horizon shape.

"So...how do you like it so far?" Tallulah asked, looking at Vivian. They were around the same height, she realized. She'd always been on the taller end, which she'd long ago accepted. Just another way for her to stand out in the crowd. 

"Uh, it's..." she struggled for a word to describe the place, then sighed. "I don't know."

"Don't worry, its much more empty right now then it will once people start arriving. Although," Tallulah vaulted onto the couch and closed their eyes. "Do you hear that?"

Vivian paused, staring around. "What?"

"Exactly. Silence."

Tallulah smiled and sat up. "This silence is valuable," they informed her, smirking at Vivian's confused look. "You'll get what I mean when people start arriving."

"So, what happens when people do start arriving?" She asked curiously. Tallulah closed their eyes and seemed to be counting something on their fingers. 

"Let's see..." they muttered. "Yes, so when people arrive we get our room numbers and head there to drop our stuff off. Lucky for us I have my room number already, and yours too. You're going to be my roommate."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so what do you think if them being roommates? Believe it or not, I've been planning they story for a year or two now, and I'm finally wiring it down. This is like my first full draft!


	3. Weirdness abounds on either side

That was relieving, and also scary. Vivian didn't know if she even wanted to eb Tallulah's roommate, but she figured it was better than sharing room with someone she didn't even know.

"So, can a girl and a boy share a room?" she asked. Tallulahs hook their head.

"Supposedly, no. When the teachers assign them, its suppose to be girls on one side, boys one the other. Anyone in between just gets thrown into a random side. Still, no one listens and the nights after the first night are always full of people switching ooms and moving around to be closer to their friends."

"huh."

"Anyone inbetween," tallulah had said. Could there really be anyone inbetween a girl and a boy? girls were girls and boys were boys and that was it. Well, except for Tallulah weird "neither" thing, which Vivian still didn't get. How come someone be "neither"? Answer; no one. It just wasn't possible.

"What about you?"

"what?" they asked, eyebrows drawing closer in confusion at her tone.

“What side are you on?”

“Well....I seem to be lumped in with the girls, so...that’s why I assume you’ll be my roommate, as well as the fact my former one definitely won’t want to share a room next year.”

“Why...?” Part of Vivian didn’t know if she wanted to know the answer. Tallulah laughed a little and shook their head.

“Not many people actually like their roommates, don’t worry,” they said. “I didn’t do anything weird, and she certainly didn’t try anything.”

That sounded more threatening then Tallulah most likely intended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> beware, I'm probably gonna go on a hiatus now. My apologies.

**Author's Note:**

> Please bear with Vivian. her views are not my own, please bear that in mind. Also, the story gets so much better because there are a lot of cool characters and people.


End file.
